Lakes along the White River are nearly full from spring rains, and more rain is in the forecast.
The National Weather Service is predicting rain across much of Arkansas from Saturday through Thursday.
Heather Cross, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said northern and western Arkansas could get 4 to 5 inches of rain over the next week. South Arkansas can expect as much as 1.5 inches of rain, while central Arkansas will get about 2.5 inches, she said.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a completely dry day guaranteed next week," Cross said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is advising people in flood plains downstream of Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork dams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri to monitor the weather and lake levels.
"Our water control manual dictates how and when we can release water from our White River dams and we have been making maximum allowable releases from our lakes this spring, although they have been holding more and more water," said Col. Robert Dixon, the Corps' Little Rock District commander. "Our lakes are performing as intended, but they have limitations and cannot prevent all flooding."
In the past six months, between 25-50 inches of rain has fallen across the White River basin, according to a news release from the Corps. The normal average for that time period is between 20-25 inches.
"During May and June much of the rainfall fell in areas that are not controlled by the White River dams," according to the release. "The uncontrolled runoff from those rains have kept the river high at Newport and Georgetown reducing our ability to lower lake levels without impacting farmers during their crucial planting time."
Late Wednesday afternoon, the White River level was at 18.7 feet at Newport and 20.2 feet at Georgetown. Minor flood stage is 26 feet at Newport and 21 feet at Georgetown.
Once a lake is full, it has reduced capacity to lower downstream flood crests, according to the Corps' news release.
"Water still flowing into the lake must be released from the dam because there is no storage space left," according to the Corps. "This is sometimes referred to as 'passing inflow.'"
"The reservoirs have limitations that Mother Nature can exceed, and sometimes she does," Dixon said. "If the National Weather Service's forecast for the next seven days holds true, we may need to make releases from Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes."
People in at-risk areas should stay in contact with local emergency officials, according to the Corps. If larger-than-normal releases are required from a dam, warnings will go out through local emergency management channels.
A Section on 06/13/2019